Python 3.7/8/9/10 on Darwin runners fails: Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/gettext/lib/libintl.8.dylib about setup-python

[aparnajyothi-y]

Hello @arcivanov, Thank you for creating this issue and we will look into it :)

[arcivanov]

This is really hurting all of the automation as the build gates are failing.

[mayeut]

This is a duplicate of #855
Best to stay on macos-13 to test the x64 architecture on macOS (or remove the architecture key if you want to test on arm64 using macos-14/macos-latest).

[arcivanov]

I'm fairly sure I'm running x86, let me check

[arcivanov]

@mayeut oh wow, you're right, at some point GHA defaulted to running MacOS 14 on arm64 by default. Thank you!

[aparnajyothi-y]

Hello Everyone, The actions/setup-python repository does not support x64 packages for Python <3.11 version on macOS arm64 runners due to compatibility and build issues. The build process for Python versions less than 3.11 involves downloading the official Python sources from python.org and building them using the make tool on the oldest available version of macOS that was available when that Python version was released. This is done to ensure backward compatibility for those Python versions as mentioned in this python-versions documentation.
However, this build process can run into compatibility issues on macOS arm64 runners. The arm64 architecture is used in Apple's newer Mac models that use Apple Silicon processors, which are based on a different instruction set than the x86-64 processors used in older models.
Therefore, the built Python packages for versions less than 3.11 may trigger the issues like few modules missing on macOS arm64 runners. This is why the actions/setup-python repository does not support x64 packages for <Python 3.11 versions on macOS arm64 runners.
For Python versions 3.11 and onwards, the actions/setup-python repository uses the official macOS universal2 Python binaries from python.org, which are compatible with both x86-64 and arm64 architectures. These can be used on macOS arm64 runners without any issues.
For Arm64 platform, we use official macOS universal2 Python binaries and provide only versions which are provided by Python org.
Hence we are closing this issue as x64 packages for < python 3.11 from source will not be supported by macos arm64 runners.
Please feel free to reach us needed to reopen this issue for more clarifications.